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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26704168">In the Madness and Soil of that Sad Earthly Scene</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmongSus/pseuds/AmongSus'>AmongSus</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Take Me To Church (pls, my poor soul needs it) [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Among Us (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Any Black/Cyan is slowburn, Brown and Purple just wanna talk wrenches, Canon Atypical Violence, I've never written for a fandom with so little lore, Poor Cyan, See if you can find the pattern, So same level violence, Tags to be added, They have names - Freeform, This is a first draft ngl, a lil bit of world building here and there, almost tempted to use matpat's theories, any rewrites will probably come out much better, guaging interest I guess, in the sense that the game is cutesy and I... am not, just for something to go off of, just more graphically displayed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 06:07:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,883</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26704168</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmongSus/pseuds/AmongSus</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It was supposed to be a test flight, her first flight. It was supposed to be safe. It wasn't. Thankfully, she had Blake at her side.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Black/Cyan (Among Us), Brown &amp; Purple (Among Us)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Take Me To Church (pls, my poor soul needs it) [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1943335</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. If the Heavens Ever Did Speak/We Never Heard It</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The force of takeoff forced her back into her seat, and she grinned, face turned towards Devaney - no, Blake, they were more informal on this ship. It would be hard to break the habits the academy had instilled, but this crew seemed nice enough.</p><p>"Eyes forward, Sky."</p><p>"Yes sir." She turned back, eyes watching as the blue of the sky shifted to the black of space, and finally they were free of the atmosphere, and she began floating ever so slightly. </p><p>"You'd best stay in your seat, the-"</p><p>"The gen-grav will kick in soon." She interrupted him, just in time to fall back into her seat. "I'm not entirely clueless." He rolled his eyes, and she laughed. "You should expect some elbows while we figure out where the academy inevitably failed me." She playfully jabbed her elbow out, no where close to actually striking him, and stood from her seat to better study the maps, the gen-grav making her feel heavier than normal. At 36,000 miles an hour*, the maps updated too fast and minutely for her to properly read, details blurring, and she swiped them down, frustrated, and looked out the window to the stars themselves, who shifted much slower.</p><p>"Mars, yes?" She stated more than asked. "We're already a bit off, we should be facing just a bit more starboard of HIP7774." She went to adjust their flight path, then looked to him.</p><p>"It's your flight, Sky, you make the calls. I'm only here if you mess up."</p><p>"That's so reassuring, Blake. Really makes me confident about my skills." She deadpanned, and even he seemed surprised that he laughed. She smiled, turning back to the dash and inputting her changes. This flight was going to go well, she thought.</p><p>It did not. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>* I originally timelined this out as two months long. At such a speed, it would take 39 days to make it to Mars as this probe would at the closest possible start. I managed to smudge things out so that it could fit the new timeline of 78 days minimum. A bit long for a primary flight, but there's no lore yet (or rather, very little that I could find) so I get to say it's a graduation test (think like a thesis?) of the so-far unnamed academy.<br/>The aphelion of Earth, and consequently the perihelion of Mars occurs in July, roughly, so this is a late summer-early fall mission. By my star app and guessing that the ship would be returning somewhere in the middle of September (WHICH IS SO CONVENIENT idk how I timed this so well) One could guess that flying towards HIP7774 would bring them within the proper range of visually correcting their flight path to Mars. In theory. In a perfect world. But I'm writing this one, so like, word of god or whatever.</p><p>https://www.space.com/24701-how-long-does-it-take-to-get-to-mars.html</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Like Rum on the Fire/We Do No Wrong</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Coralie, Clay, they’re…” Chloe paused, ready to cry, and Sky looked to Blake, who still had an ironclad grip on her wrist.</p><p>“What-” His grip tightened, and she shut up with a squeak of pain as the bones in her wrist ground together. He dropped her limb as if it had burned him, and she cradled it against her chest as Chloe finally pulled herself together long enough to finish her sentence. </p><p>“They’re dead, I found them in oh-two.” Sky reared back in shock. How could one die on a ship?</p><p>“What? How?” She blurted out, bewildered, and Avery, normally so quiet -especially for one who worked in communications- spat a single word as if it made any more sense.</p><p>“Impostors.”</p><p>“What are impostors though?” Blake gave her a sharp look.</p><p>“Didn’t they tell you?” Chloe whispered in incredulity, and Sky shook her head. </p><p>“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”</p><p>“I’ll forward you some files later. Let’s not talk about it now. It’s not like we know who it is.” Blake told her, and she nodded. That might be best, since it looked like Chloe was a breath away from tears again. She didn’t want to upset anyone.</p><p>“Chloe, I’ll help with- with the bodies.” Roan offered, in that deep voice that always sounded just above a mumble. Sky wanted to know where the bodies would go, but another glance from Blake shut her up. </p><p>“If we don’t know anything about who did it…” He glanced at Blaine, who shrugged. </p><p>“Nothing on the cameras, but I also wasn’t looking too hard. This was supposed to be a safe flight.” </p><p>“Then we need to continue our work. Pointing fingers aimlessly will only get more innocent people hurt.” She frowned, but when the others agreed, she sighed and nodded along. She and Blake returned to Navigation, and when she picked up her communications pad, she threw it back down, collapsing into her seat, head in her hands. He took the new task assignments with a bit more grace, and the day passed that much slower.</p><p> </p><p>Later, in bed, her commpad lit up, chirping cheerfully as if everything was okay. She glanced at it; the files Blake had promised stared back at her. Well, it wasn’t like she’d get anything else done. She felt sick, reading through carnage reports, and she didn’t sleep for the next week. She caught the others giving her pitying looks, until Blake forbade her from Navigation and Chloe refused to clear her for work. She got three nights of relatively peaceful sleep before the next death rocked the ship.</p><p>-</p><p>Sky had found him in his chair in Shields, knife stuck deep within his neck, blood soaking underneath his already red suit. She screamed, throwing herself backwards against the wall. Blake came barreling in first, swearing, reaching for her when he saw Roan. She buried her face in his shoulder, shaking with each breath. </p><p>"What shit luck, kid." She managed an unhinged-sounding laugh. That was when the others started arriving, and now Sky was more embarrassed that her voice had carried all the way to the reactor than the fact she was clinging to someone like a child. Wren and Iris were the last to arrive, and broke the wordless silence.</p><p>"God, we heard- all the way in the reactor, we thought-" They looked from Roan to Sky, still leaning against Blake, even if she'd pulled away to stand beside him. </p><p>"I found him like this. I thought- I thought he was just being quiet, at first, you know how he is, but then I walked around..." She shook her head helplessly, and Blake tightened his hold around her shoulders. </p><p>"Damn." Blaine breathed. "I'll look through the cameras, then." Albin and Chloe moved to remove Roan from the chair, and Sky fled to Navigation, Blake not far behind her, though at a calmer pace.</p><p>She tried to bring up the maps, but her hands shook too much and she sat in her chair. Blake's hand settled on her shoulder, and she wilted.</p><p>"What could he have ever done to deserve that?" She asked, and his grip tightened. </p><p>"Nothing, Impostors..." He shook his head, removing his hand to sit next to her. "They- I don't know how to explain it. You're not people, to them. Just..."</p><p>"Just ants to step on, or use the magnifying glass on. Yeah, okay." She hissed, yanking her hairties out and running a hand through her hair. "It's not fair." She knew she was acting like a kid, but he shrugged.</p><p>"Not a lot is."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. I Walk My Days on a Wire/Balancing Upon a Knife's Edge</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Albin finds Iris in the upper engine's room. They gather in the cafeteria, what remained of her body -there was so little, a hollowed out shell- laid on the center table. Chloe had refused to be present after catching a glimpse, locking herself away in medbay. Jade had joined her short after, trying to stay until even she admitted she didn't want to be there. Only the men, Sky, and Avery and Wren were left. Wren looked ready to start breaking things, and Sky edged closer to Blake.</p><p>"What-" Avery tried to talk, but Wren nearly launched herself over the table to yell at her. </p><p>"You walked right past me to get to her this morning!'' </p><p>"I- I had to get her reports!" Avery jerked back, alarmed. </p><p>"That's Albin's job, he's in charge of Admin!" Wren stepped back, jabbing a finger towards the white-suited man.</p><p>"He was in electrical, picking up Clay's tasks, and I didn't want to bother him!"</p><p>"Well maybe you should have." Wren voted, on her pad, and Sky panicked. One vote meant they all had to vote. And with the way Albin and Blaine were nodding thoughtfully at Wren, a sick feeling was settling in her stomach. She hit skip, and suddenly, one after another, votes were placed. Three for Avery, one for Wren, a last fuck you from Avery, Sky guessed, and two skipped. Avery would go. Sky watched helplessly as the two men moved to grab her. She fought, but two on one were never good odds, and she was thrown into the spacelock, doors slamming shut. She beat her fists on the door, until she didn't. Sky's heart dropped out of her stomach as she watched the blue shape of Avery get ever smaller.</p><p>"All she had to do was skip..." She turned to Blake, eyes burning. "Why didn't she skip?" He shook his head.</p><p>"I don't know." He sounded calm, and she wondered if he was even really aware of what had just happened. Shock? Disassociating? She suddenly found herself resenting the helm he wore so often. It cut him off from her, from the entire crew. Now that she thought of it, he'd really only started wearing it after the first deaths, two and a half weeks ago.</p><p>"Are you okay?" She asked softly, hand coming to rest on his shoulder, and he shrugged. </p><p>"Is anyone, after that?" She squeezed, then dropped her hand, sighing.</p><p>"I know I'm not. Shit, we still have to tell Chloe and Jade." </p><p>"Leave that to Albin, he's in charge of all this."</p><p>"I just feel so useless. I can only readjust our flight path so many times before it gets redundant, and I don't know enough to pick up any meaningful tasks." He tilted his head ever so slightly.</p><p>"I could probably show you a few tasks, they shouldn't be too complicated."</p><p>"You'd do that?" She looked at him, surprised. Training had not been part of the contract she'd signed to take on the flight.</p><p>"If it makes you feel better, sure." </p><p>"You don't have to, not just for me, really." And now here came the guilt, that she'd take more of his time than she already did. </p><p>"It'll help fill our time until we dock, at the very least. And you'll come out with some valuable skills." The optimism in his voice was strained, and she shivered. Yeah, she'd come out with skills, if she made it out at all. </p><p>"Right. Well if you want to, I won't mind." He nodded, turning back to Navigation. She glanced between the others and the tattered purple suit on the table, before shaking her head and moving towards Communications. That at least, she could do a bit of.</p><p>Except she couldn't focus long enough to fix the static, and her fingers shook too hard for the precision required for fiddly knobs.</p><p>"Damn it!" She yelled, slamming her hand down on the top of the radiolike receiver. The static cut out. "Oh, was that all you needed?" She sneered at the machine, whipping around when she heard a laugh, heart in her throat.</p><p>Blaine. </p><p>"Sorry, I shouldn't laugh, we've got a serious problem." He beckoned her from the doorway.</p><p>"What's going on now? No one else is... Please, Blaine, don't tell me that. I don't think-" She fell in step beside him, their boots striking the hallway floor in tandem. </p><p>"No one else is dead. It's the bodies."</p><p>"The bo- what the fuck- Blaine, you can't just say 'it's the bodies,' you gotta- oh god." Her knees went out from under her as they stepped into the storage room where the bodies had been stored. Had been. Now, there was only a pile of viscera covered bones and suits of varying colors where Clay, Roan, and Coralie had lain. They looked horribly similar to Iris' body, even if hers had less missing.</p><p>She was panicking. She could feel her breath coming in short bursts, the tightness in her chest, and then Blake was there in front of her, without his precious helm, giving Blaine a deathglare before turning his attention to her. Blaine stomped away, presumably to gather the others. </p><p>"Hey. Hey, Sky." He shook her by her shoulders, gently. It still jarred her, and she jerked back, eyes wide. He pulled his hands from her as if she'd burned him, and somewhere in her mind she wondered if he just didn't like touch, or if he didn't like touching her.</p><p>"Sky, come on. Breathe with me. In, hold, out. Good girl." She shook her head, wheezing now instead of hyperventilating, but she could still see the bodies over his shoulder. </p><p>"They..." She managed to squeeze out, before he moved to block her view.</p><p>"Hey, no, focus on me. We're going to go to the cafeteria, alright?" She nodded, and he kept himself between her view and the bodies as she slowly worked her way to unsteady footing, guiding her out of the room, hydraulic door hissing shut behind them.</p><p>“God, fuck!” She could barely get air behind the words, but Blake still heard her, a sharp, bitter laugh.</p><p>“You can say that again. I never even thought-” He cut himself off, shaking his head as if he could physically dislodge whatever thoughts he had.</p><p>“C’mon, we should get to the cafeteria. Everyone else is probably already there.”</p><p>“Do we really have to?” She joked weakly, already moving forward.</p><p>“I don’t want to either, to be honest.”</p><p>“Almost halfway through, then we’ll be safe.”</p><p>“Except if we make it through, they’ll want to reassign us."</p><p>“Well. When we make it out of here, we can ask to be reassigned together. That’s you and me at minimum that won’t be impostors. And the next one might not even have impostors, you know.”</p><p>“This one wasn’t supposed to.” His voice was just a bit off, but Sky couldn’t think of how before they stepped through the doors to the cafeteria.</p><p>It was chaos. People were yelling, things were being thrown, and she immediately stepped behind Blake, dodging a cup. Of course, Wren was doing most of the throwing and the yelling. Chloe and Jade were struggling to hold her back, and Blaine and Albin were trying to diffuse the situation while dodging whatever unfortunate object found itself within Wren’s reach.</p><p>Blake strode forward and slammed a tray on the table. Everyone fell quiet, and Sky sighed. They’d already lost Avery needlessly, how soon until someone else innocent got hurt? Except, had Iris been innocent? Had Avery? Sky didn’t want to believe any of them were capable of what she’d seen, but it was someone, and now she wondered if there weren’t two. She was jerked from her thoughts by the conversation.</p><p>“The cameras only cover so much of the ship, Wren, we weren’t supposed to have any problems, remember?” Albin pointed at Sky and she flinched.</p><p>“It was supposed to be a test flight."</p><p>“Yeah, supposed to…” Wren pinned Sky with a look, and Sky frowned.</p><p>“What are you saying, Wren?”</p><p>“I’m not saying anything. Why, feeling guilty?” Wren’s predatory smirk was chilling.</p><p>“How could I be guilty? I haven’t done anything but fly us.”</p><p>“And cling to a potential alibi.” She gestured open handed at Blake.</p><p>“Why are you so keen to throw the blame on me?” Sky shook her head. “I get you want this done with, trust me, me too, but throwing the blame at random is going to get a lot more innocent people killed.” Here, she directed her best ‘I blame you’ glare at Wren. “Like Avery.”</p><p>“Oh, so now I’m the bad guy? Real convenient for you! You’ve probably been sneaking around doing whatever to the bodies!”</p><p>“I didn’t know anything was happening to the bodies until now!” She pointed at Albin. “And he’s the one that showed me, or I wouldn’t have known at all!”</p><p>“It’s true, she wigged out as soon as she saw them. Pretty convincing in my opinion.”</p><p>“That wasn’t even necessary, Albin, you could have just told her.” Blake spoke up, and Sky rubbed the back of her neck, nodding in agreement.</p><p>“Attacks like that aren’t exactly fun.”</p><p>“Sorry kid.” He didn’t look very contrite.</p><p>“We still have to do something about the bodies. We can’t keep letting whatever eat them.” Wren bit out, gritting her teeth.</p><p>“Who said anything about eating?” Sky’s face twisted in disgust.</p><p>“Well we’re not exactly finding offal around the ship, so it had to go somewhere.”</p><p>“That’s just disgusting.” Jade finally spoke up, looking rather ill. Chloe, still quiet, tugged Jade closer, into a side hug.</p><p>“What is there to do? Storage doesn’t lock, and obviously an honor system wouldn’t work if they’re willing to kill people.”</p><p>“I hate to be that person, but we do have airlocks. Better they be lost to space than… desecrated like that.” Chloe spoke so quietly Sky almost didn’t hear her.</p><p>“Shouldn’t their families make that choice? They may want something to bury.” Jade frowned.</p><p>“Comms are broken further than I can fix, I think. Unless someone else is willing to dabble, we’re on radio silence until we return.” </p><p>"Medbay then. We aren't really using it, no one's gotten... survivably hurt yet." Blaine shrugged.</p><p>"That may be best." Albin nodded, and Sky had to agree.</p><p>"We can move most of the stuff into the cafeteria so we still have access to it." Blake glanced around at the rest.</p><p>"Agreed, then?" With varying degrees of assent, the men were sent to move the bodies while the ladies moved the medical equipment that could be.</p><p>After, Sky ended up collapsing into bed later than she was used to, sighing heavily. She reached up to turn off the lights, and they cut out. She froze, listening with her heart in her throat. Minutes passed with nothing but the quiet of her own breath, before they turned back on.</p><p>She slept with the lights on that night.</p>
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